Roots

Pauls Valley Depot Museum


Last week I drove down to Oklahoma to collect the proceeds from my mother's estate sale and to make plans to sell her house. The sale was a great success according to my agents, but I still felt a little like Judas, selling Jim's priceless memories for a few dollars.

Jim's house is empty now. I did save a few things, but most of her possessions, the accumulation of almost 100 years, is gone. As I looked at the bare walls I kept thinking of things I wish I had saved. She had a huge picture of a group of horses with their trainers hanging in front of her entranceway. She said a copy of the painting hung at the head of the stairs in Mamma's house when she was little. I didn't keep it because I thought it was too big to hang in our house. I also wish I had saved a large statue of a horse that Jim had antiqued, and the pictures she brought back from Mexico, the figurines from China, and the porcelain birds.

With nothing to keep me in Oklahoma City, I decided to drive down to Pauls Valley, where Jim was born and where Mamma and Uncle Haskell lived their lives. I've wanted to go down there again for some time, to visit the museum and the library, and to go through their collection of pictures and documents about our family. During the last several years I visited Jim fairly often, but my time was limited, and I didn't want to take away from my time with her to make side trips.

So on the second day of my trip, after I had spoken with the builder and the estate sale agent, I took off for Pauls Valley. It only takes about an hour to get there on the interstate. Pauls Valley is a beautiful little town. Its streets are lined with big oak, maple and pecan trees, and its gardens are filled with flowers. Few people go through town nowadays because it's about a mile off the freeway, so there aren't very many cars on the streets. The pace of life there is slow and the people are friendly, even before they find out you're a Paul.

I went to the museum first. It's located in the old railroad depot. That's really appropriate because the railroad created Pauls Valley. Back in 1887 when the M. K. and T. ran their tracks through Indian Territory, White Bead was the main town in the area, but Sam Paul, my great grandfather, had the foresight to offer some of his land for the depot and townsite, and Pauls Valley soon eclipsed White Bead, which now consists of only a few houses.

When I walked into the museum I found Adrienne Grimmett manning the desk. Adrienne has been the main force behind the Pauls Valley Historical Society ever since my uncle Haskell passed away. Adrienne generously spent most of the afternoon with me, explaining the exhibits and showing me her files about the Paul family. The walls of the museum are covered with pictures of my ancestors, many of them donated by my mother. My grandparents and great grandparents are there, along with many great aunts, uncles and cousins. The museum has a portrait of my great grandmother that I had never seen before. As I looked at photographs of the old pioneers I recognized many of the names from stories my mother has told me. Also on display is a remarkable piece of needlework done by my grandmother.




Old Smith Paul Home now owned by Jonathan Grimmett

Origianal hand hewn log beams

Adrienne was kind enough to show me through the old Smith Paul home, now owned by her son Jonathan. Smith Paul, my great great grandfather, originally built the house in 1872, and he lived there until 1875 when he moved to California. Smith Paul's son Sam, my great grandfather, lived in the house until his death in 1891. Since Sam was prominent in Chickasaw politics, his home was visited by many of the leaders of the time. On one occasion a meeting of the Five Civilized Tribes was held at the Paul home with Sam serving as translator.

After Sam Paul's death the house suffered a severe fire which destroyed the second floor but the fortress like rock walls remained standing. The house was rebuilt afterward and remodelled several times by several owners. Adrienne's parents, Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Ewart, bought the house in the early 40's, and her family has owned it ever since. Previous owners added indoor plumbing, but when the Ewarts first moved in, the only stairway to the second floor was outdoors. Adrienne said that until a stairway could be built, her brother had to go outside to get to his bedroom.

The house as it appears now is a majestic structure, sitting on Jackson Hill overlooking the valley. The original house was even larger than it is now. The walls are a double layer of rock, two feet thick. When the Ewarts decided to add a room, they had to use dynamite to break down the original stone wall! In the basement you can see the original log beams that support the house, and the hand forged nails that hold them together. The beams still have some bark on their sides, and the top and bottom surfaces still show the cut marks of the adze used to flatten them. Some vestiges of the past were found between the beams in the late 50's when the Ewarts replaced the flooring: a knife, a clay pipe, an old doll. There are legends that Smith Paul buried gold under his house, but as of yet no treasure has been found.

On the second day that I visited Pauls Valley I spent several hours in the library looking through their document file and going through several years of newspaper microfilm. The highlight of my trip to the library though was finding the transcript of a long interview with my uncle Haskell. Haskell spent hours talking with our older family members and looking up records. He was a storehouse of information but he hardly wrote anything down. Before this I only had a few pages of information that was transcribed from his notebook. This interview will add a lot to my knowledge.

Rush Creek

Between sessions of looking at documents and pictures I drove around town. It seems to me that the downtown area has run down a little since I was a child. Some of the buildings are vacant and their walls are crumbling in places. A vacant lot is all that remains of the big stone building that had my grandfather's name, W. H. Paul, embossed across its concrete cornice. Adrienne said that it was torn down after it sustained serious fire damage. The old Royal Theater where my mother and her brother Bob used to watch silent movies is still in operation. My uncle Haskell's house looks pretty much the same, but a Sonic drive in occupies the former site of my grandmother's home. I went over to Rush Creek, the scene of my mother's "Narrow Escape" - see post for 9/1/10. It had been raining for two days and there was a lot of water flowing down stream, but the banks have been built up since Jim's childhood and the water level was still a long way below the bridge.

I went out to Mt. Olivet, the cemetery where most of the family was laid to rest. There my grandmother and grandfather lay peacefully side by side, after years of conflict and tragedy, surrounded by their children and other family members.

My only disappointment was when I tried to visit the museum at Wynnewood. Wynnewood is just seven miles south of Pauls Valley, near the site of old Cherokee Town, where my mother's other grandfather, J. T. Rosser, settled after migrating from Georgia after the Civil War. Jim set up a Victoria Paul room there in honor of her mother. I've never seen the exhibit in person, only in photographs. It has a sample of Grandmother's painting and one of her charcoals. I know her brass bed is there and also her wedding gown, and some of her hand made lace. the museum was closed for some reason. I'll have to go back another time.

Finally, on the evening of my second day in Pauls Valley, I went by to visit my cousin, Christeen Paul Swinney, who lives in Elmore City, about 25 miles west of Pauls Valley. She was really close to my grandmother, and her husband Vic was my uncle Tom's best friend. We talked long into the night, exchanging stories and reminiscing about the past. The story of my visit with her will have to wait for another time.